Poulter retains PGA Tour card after all

(Reuters) - Britain's Ian Poulter has regained his PGA Tour card for the rest of the season, a week after losing it.

The European Ryder Cup hero thought he had lost his full playing status after failing to earn enough points in a designated number of tournaments this season after returning from a foot injury that curtailed his 2016 campaign.

But the Tour recalculated his points tally based on a different formula and concluded he had done enough to keep his card through the end of the season.

"It's obviously a big bit of good news," Poulter told reporters at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Saturday.

"For the Tour to unanimously decide that was the fair thing to do, puts me in a very different situation, being able to play the Players (Championship) and all the remaining events I would like to play."

Englishman Poulter, 41, is best known for his stellar Ryder Cup performances, playing on the winning European team in four of five appearances in the event and racking up an impressive individual record of 12 wins, four losses and two halves.

American Brian Gay uncovered the discrepancy in points allocation for players coming back off medical exemptions and also benefited by retaining his own Tour card.

(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina, editing by Nick Mulvenney)